Over the last 12 years, Food Rescue has been featured in a number of media stories, but no reporter ever connected with our mission like Jennifer Carmack Brilliant. That connection led to Jennifer being hired as Food Rescue's Program Director in Marion County 3 years ago. During her time at Food Rescue Jennifer was able to convince 74 Marion County schools to allow their students to feed families instead of landfills with their unopened and unpeeled food items that they were choosing not to eat each day. To put that accomplishment in perspective, one particular school tracked 90,000 food items donated last year! So it is with great sadness that we are announcing that as of November 1, 2018, Jennifer will be stepping down as our program director in Marion County to focus on her family for this period of time. We will be announcing her replacement shortly, but we wanted to take this time to celebrate Jennifer and all she has meant to Food Rescue, and wish her well. Below is her final blog post sharing her journey with Food Rescue. We will miss you Jennifer!​​

​Life has a way of taking us places we never saw ourselves going, but where always belonged. That’s because life is full of opportunity. It is our decision to leap or stay the course. For close to twenty years, I worked as a journalist. This job afforded me the opportunity to witness every facet of humanity. The ugliness of the world. The lowest points of life for the best people. Things you couldn’t shake when you closed your eyes at night. But it also exposed me to the beauty of the world. It showed me the resiliency of the human spirit. It was often in those dark moments that the brightness came out in people. Working in news brought me to the next phase of my life.

I had the opportunity to cover Food Rescue twice in my career. I was deeply impressed with the mission and the passion behind the work. Never in my wildest dreams did I think an email would pop up years later, opening the door for me to roll up my sleeves and do the work. Food Rescue not only allowed me to reinvent myself, but it also allowed me to once again witness the kinder side of the world. People who truly wanted to do good, help people and do the right thing. Food Rescue allowed me to simply show the way and hopefully inspire others to keep the mission rolling and growing.

I want to tell you what Food Rescue really means to me. What kept me going when doors were being slammed shut. When people didn’t see that feeding people shouldn’t be that hard. Last year, we produced a video from our student leaders, or Food Rescue Warriors, perspective. During the shoot, a young boy, maybe eight or nine years old, came up to me and said, “Do you want to know why I think Food Rescue is great?’ Of course I did! He told me that his family didn’t have a lot of money. That some of his cousins had to go to food pantries. He told me they didn’t have enough at home to help but Food Rescue gave him the chance to make a difference. “It feels really good”, he said. THAT is what this is all about. Yes. It is important to feed people in need. It is important to respect our earth and teach children waste doesn’t make sense. It is also about empowering kids. Showing them what IS possible. This child never had an opportunity to give back because it was always assumed he needed to receive. We were showing him his worth and that, no matter what, you always have something to give. I think about him every single day. You see, I truly hope we changed his life, regardless though, he certainly changed mine.

As I prepare to close this chapter of my journey, I hand it off to capable hands. I know Food Rescue will continue to spread. Hearts and minds will be touched and forever altered. I know mine has been. I am forever grateful for this incredible chance to make a difference in my community. To educate, to feed, to love my neighbors a little bit more. Spread the word, friends. No one should be hungry. Kids should know there is a better way. Kids deserve the chance to make a difference too.

While my work will not end here, it is once again time to be still and listen. Time to see where my path will lead. I will take this opportunity to snuggle my young boys a little closer. Be more present in their fleeting childhoods. I hope our paths will once again cross and together, one person at a time, we can make the world a better place. If nothing else, always remember this: when you hear the call or feel the pull of change, just leap. You might find yourself right where you were always meant to be.

Our new system has been working for us up here in Alaska. From the first day it was a hit!!! I was expecting some resistance from teachers who don't care to have food in the classrooms and also problems with garbage on the playground but.....none so far. The high school "hungry boys" love finding the fixings for PB & jelly sandwiches from the K-5 crew. A huge problem, that I cannot fix at this time is the recess timing. It IS after lunch and a LOT of kids will come in and dump their trays just to get outside. Maybe next year. All in all... it was welcomed as a great idea and the school news crew is going to be doing a section on your program...hopefully before school closes for the summer but if not we will be off to a great start next year. We are out the 27th of this month. I'm currently working on getting a summer food program started because I know a lot of our kids do not get to eat well at home. This has only been my 2nd year running the kitchen and I've made MANY changes to our waste problem. I've been in contact with a member of the Sustainable Southeast group that is working on a partnership with the tribal authority to help run an aquaponics site. Also...UAS in Sitka is doing a study on using recycled cardboard to grow mushrooms!!!! He is getting me that contact info soon. I'm soooo excited because mushrooms are seriously my passion!!! I'm already setting up to grow shiitake and other gourmet (but really medicinal) mushrooms at home using alder that has already been dropped around the island. I'm also going to set up at the school to sell and actually make money with our lunch program. I'm looking forward to working with K-12 Food Rescue your fabulous project and help change the habits of our locals. Please feel free to contact me with any more info you may have or just to check on our progress.